Method for uniting railway-rails.



J. C. LINCOLN.

METHOD FOR UNITING RAILWAY RAILS.

APPLICATION FlLED FEB. 6, 1914 1,281,402. Patented 0m. 15, 1918.

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JOHN G. LINCOLN, or CLE ELAND, onro.

mErHon r01; Umrme RAILWAY-RAILS.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN C. LINCOLN, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland useful Improvements in'Methods for Unit ing Railway-Rails, of which the' following' is a specification. I

My invention relates to improvements in method for uniting railway rails, and has for its object the provision of a stron and cheap mechanical and electrical bon .for the ends of such rails. v Y

Numerous methods have previously been been improved upon; by riveting 'Jthe *fishing 'or weldingfa'" devised for uniting the ends of rails, of-

which the-most modern and satisfactory at the present time, probably consistsm castlower portion of the rail-ends "which is adapted permanently'and rigidly to secure the rails in their relative relation. As is well recognized, however the uniting of the rail-ends by means of fish-plates, 1 alone is a much cheaper method, although affording 'no satisfactory electric connection between the rails; In recent years, this method-has plates to the rail-n'ds by means of suitable pneumatic apparatus,'-which eliminates the chance for loosening the fish-plates. I

electrical and mechanical construction of the joint obtained by the method first described,

while adding verylittle to the cost of uniting the raileends by-means of boltedger riveted fish-plates. This method, in brief, consists in welding the edges of'the fish-plates upon both sides of the rail-ends directly to the heads and flanges of said rails. This preferablyis accomplished by means of the electric arc, and the expense is materially less than is entailed bythe production of any and permanence.

other welded joint, securing equal strength My invention'may be more many ex- Plain d \y aking reference to the accom panying drawings, wherein l. Y

Figure I rail-ends united by means of riveted fishplates with longitudinal weldsalon'g' the ad- ]acent edges of the fish-plates and the rails, the welds being-s'u plemented by separate, additional bodies 0 metal.

II he vertical section. on line 2-2' Specification of Letters Patent.

0nd of metal about the made;

a; fragmentary view fOf two Patented Oct. 15, 1918.

hpplication' filed February 6, 1914. Serial No. 817,020.

Fig III-is a diagram showing a side-elevation of the joint with the preferred welds indicated upon the rail-ends and fish-plates, the electrode or torch for efiecting the weld, and the power-circuit for striking the welding arc.

Throughout thev several figures of the drawings, I have employed the same character of reference to indicate similar parts.

The rail-ends a?) are of any well-known type; being united by fish-plates c d, which "may be bolted or riveted upon the rail-ends as has been commonly practised heretofore; Preferably, however, as the joint is sought to be 'madepermanent, both mechanically and electrically, I advise power riveting the fish-plates upon the rail-ends."

Several considerations have determined the limited welding of the fish-plates to the rail-ends. Ordinarily, the workmust be done after the rails have been "spiked into place upon the road-bed. Depending. upon the character ofthe-frails, and'the 'trafiic,; the welds maycomprise welding seams 0r superadded bodies ofmetal reinforcing such seams. These welds, -however, do not bridge the 1 plane separating the rail-ends. Thus, ofie mode of practising my invention, after the fish-plates have'been permanently I secured upon the rail-ends, .is to apply the My present method combmes the unitary negative terminal t of an. electrlc arc to 'the samerbetween the topfsjand bottoms of each fish-plate, as c", d, and 0", d", and the adjacent faces-a, b,'a, b, of the rails.

The welded scams, 0', (1., along the tops of the .;fish-plate s,however, may be omitted, prostrains.

"positive connection established upon the rail 7 the weld is first or fish-plate with which Obviously, my invention is not limited to electrically welding the fish-plates and railends, since the exy-hydrogen and acetylene blow-pipes'may likewise be used for effecting .vided thejoint is not subjectedto'excessive I The -curren't ordinarily "and preferably the welds. In any case, a. suitable'heating 1 flame (and by this term I mean to include the electric arc, as Well) will fuse or weld the metal of the fish-platedirectly to the outer faces of the rail-flanges, so that the structure is made unitary along the lines 0, d, 0', do. Inasmuch as only a relatively small body of metal is fused atone time, very little current and only a little time on the part of a workman of ordinary skill, are required to convert a rail-joint into one which is of such electrical. and mechanical excellence that breaking-down tests develop the fact that the fish-plates will first yield under the strain, rather than the welded seams of the joints.

While the procedure just described is adapted for uniting rails of light construction, it is commonlytfound desirableto supplement the welded seams in uniting rails sustaining ordinarily heavy traffic. The principles as outlined, however, apply with equal force to the following explanation.

.As is well known, the commercial fishplates are adapted both by shape and mass to the weight or strength of the rail with which they are employed, and the drawings actually illustrate a relatively heavy street railway rail united by massive riveted fishplates. After the rails a, b, have been secured. closely in engagement by means of the riveted fish-plates c, d, a metallic electrode t, preferably of steel, is applied as the negative terminal of the arcing circuit, while the rails and fish-plates form the positive side of the circuit, as previously described.

Those conversant with the art will under stand that the negative metallic terminal will be melted at the tip and when applied to the seams between the tops and bottoms of the fish-plates and the adjacent faces a, b, of

the rails, the metal of the electrode will be welded into that of the fish-plates and rails, so that an appreciable body of additional metal will be, supplied thereto. It may be noted in passing that while desirable, it is not necessary in using a metallic electrode, to have it form the'negative terminal of the arcing circuit, since it will be melted in either instance.

In order properly to distribute the strain for the relatively lightwelds, the arc is ap plied upon either side of the vertical plane 22 supporting the rail-ends, so that the actual welds are marked by sections f, g, which lie approximately a quarter of an inch back upon either side of said plane separating the rail-ends. I have found that i by sub-dividing the welds in this manner, that breaking-down tests do not initially develop cracks in the fish-plates along the line of said vertical plane, and the strains, as a result of this construction, are shearing strains. 7 I

If the acetylene-torch p is to be used in practising this process, it is merely necessary to employ a small bar of steelp, from which the welded bodies may be melted as the welding operation proceeds between the fish-plate and the rail; otherwise the process is identical with the described use of the electric current for the same urpose.

While I have referred to and described the precautionary welding of the upper edges of the fish-plates to the under faces of the rail-heads, I may explain that this is not absolutely essential, inasmuch as the strains incident to the supported weight primarily are borne by the lower welds or welded bodies 9, while the upper Welds or welded bodies f serve primarily to resist the contractile strains incident to the lowering in temperature of long lengths of welded rails. Of course, in speaking of the resistance to strain, all of the welded seams serve to su plement the strength and resistance of t e fish-plates. By separating or subdividing the welds or welded seams, however, it IS along the lower edges of the fish-plates, it

will be appreciated that these welded joints are subjected essentially to shearing strains, while the compression resulting from the sustained weight or shock is taken by the upper portions of the heads of abutting railends; No proportionate increase in efliciency, so far as the supported weight is concerned, is obtained by welding the upper edges of the fish-plates to the heads of the rails, and accordingly, these welds may frequently be dispensed with. My improve ment essentially provides a method of increasing the strength of the rail-joint materially against bending or shearing strains throughout properly localized areas, by dropping relatively ductile molten-metal u on the scams or sectional welds, while inci entally decreasing the electrical resistance of said rail-joint.

Having now described the preferred methodof practising my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, the following 1. The herein described method for electrically and mechanically unitin railway rails, which consists in riveting fis -plates to the rail-ends positioned in alinement and closely abutting each other, and applying the negative terminalof an electric arc to the lower adjacent surfaces or seams between the fishas positioned for use, and. thereafter welding only the lower edges of the fish-plates to the rails; interrupting the welding operation immediately adjacent to the meeting plane of said rails.

Positioned as are these seams or welds g,

3. The herein described method of uniting meetin plane of the rail-ends, substantially rail-ends, which consistsin placing the rails as set orth. 10 in alinement with fish-plates embracing the In testimony whereof I do now afiix my webs thereof at their ends, and forming insignature in the presence of two witnesses.

5 terrupted seams or welds by dropping molten JOHN. C. LINCOLN.

metal upon the, abutting edges of the fish- Witnesses: plates in the presence of a heating flame to M. A. Dmsconn, effect surface welds upon either Slde of the ALBERTL'YNN LAWRENCE. 

